Beer: Reviews & Ratings

"Situated at opposite ends of the California Trail, pioneering breweries Sierra Nevada and Boulevard have embarked upon a journey into the unknown, to a land where adventures in flavor await. Terra Incognita is, fittingly, an earthy beer, celebrating the unique terroir or the two locations. Beginning with a grain bill of pale malt, amber malt, and both malted and unmaled wheat, it is then assertively hopped with Bravo and Styrian Goldings, dry-hopped with East Kent Goldings, and then barrel aged for nearly three months." Brewed in the style of an American Wild Ale, available in 750ml. bottles and on limited draft. Collaboration between Sierra Nevada and Boulevard, this bottle was packaged by the latter brewery in their large bottle format, although a future release was packaged by Sierra Nevada, this review accounts for the former release, with the latter release forthcoming.

Poured from a 750ml. bottle to a tulip glass. Served above 54 degrees Fahrenheit.

(Appearance) Pours an explosive frothy foam head of a deep tan, mocha brown color over a a very murky dark brown body. Retention is very good and lacing is moderate and patchy. 4.25

(Smell) Funk and fruity tartness with some earthy spice, a biscuit and tangy toast malt profile, little hop aroma nor bitterness prevalent, nor much impact from the whiskey barrel aging, both are unfortunately either absent or overshadowed in the aroma of this beer. Dominant aromas are from the brett and yeast strains, with ample time to dominate this beer. Potency is moderate. 3.75

(Taste) Moderately tart and acidic brett/yeast characters forward, with a more thorough malt profile for a sour. Caramel, biscuit, light wheat and tangy rye, even a faint suggestion of delicate roast and chocolate malt after the swallow. The funk and tartness of the brett strain certainly overshadows the barrel aging subtleties of this beer, and I find it difficult to pick out much distinctive whiskey nor barrel flavor, although there is a chance that it blends effortlessly with the other flavors in this beer. I think that the Brettanomyces profile has gained just enough on the malt profile to form a nice balance for both flavors collectively. Altogether, this is a highly enjoyable beer, a nice option if you enjoy dark sours. 4

(Mouthfeel) Texture is silky, tangy, moderately dry. Carbonation is moderate, generating a medium frothiness and a moderately crisp finish. Body is medium+ for the style, medium+ overall. Balance is slightly tangy and tart over sweet and bitter. Alcohol presence is mild and there are no off characters. 3.75

(Overall) I find it unusual that the breweries didn't attempt to sell the wild ale angle in this beer on the label, as it comes through noticeably enough for me to consider it a dark sour. Although there are still some reservations as to how potent the tartness and funk is in this beer, I think that the Brettanomyces has grown considerably in this beer, and made for quite a tasty and complex ale. Overall, I'd consider it an enjoyable beer with enough sourness and funk to keep it interesting, the slightly fuller malt body was a bit more substantial but a welcome twist. Perhaps the most notable misfortune is the limitations from the whiskey barrel aging, which falls very much into the background of this beer, behind the funk and acidity. I'm looking forward to seeing how Sierra Nevada's rendition varies, but overall recommend this beer as a worthy try, regardless of the brewery that packages it. 3.75

Either this was a bad bottle or I waited too long to open it but this was the worst beer I've tried in recent memory. Overly carbonated with large bubbles reminiscent of my early homebrew experiments. The smell is harsh graininess, RC Cola, slight funk from the brett and some smokey, burnt tire-like aroma. Taste follows the nose very closely with an awful bitterness thrown in on the back end which makes me gag slightly. Overwhelming brett and funk. Tastes like burning. Terrible. The mouthfeel is effervescent like a sparkling water which whisks away this elixir from my palate. Overall, this was awful. Like I mentioned, maybe this was just a bad bottle as others seem to rate it reasonably well or I possibly let it sit too long (just nigh over three years) and the brett went nuts and destroyed what was a decent beer.Shame. A rare drain-pour for me. (873 characters)

Look: Poured out of the 750ml bottle with a great deal of earth-tone colored foam (3-4 inches). It is a very nice dark bronze color and quite opaque. The head stays frothy for quite some time and never totally disappeared.

Smell: First notes are of fruity tartness with a slight vinegary tinge. Only a slight caramel malt scent.

Taste: A quick, and dry, sour bite comes first. Then there are a few flavors melding together: grapes, pumpkin, caramel, spices, toasted nuts, charred oak, and very tart cherries. There are bitter notes, but not necessarily from the hop additions as this beer is around 38 IBUs. For being an 8+% ABV brew, it does not drink like one.

Feel: This is brew is of a medium body (not too thick, not too thin) and very dry and effervescent on the tongue.

Overall: This is a good beer but I probably would not buy it again. It is a bit on the sour side, which I am not a big fan of, and a bit too dry on the tongue. The sourness was not overpowering, though, and this brew had many other flavors to keep it interesting (whiskey, oak, caramel, fruit). (1,091 characters)

Bottled on date is faded but reads 2014. Pours a midnight red color with a light khaki colored head that thins out swiftly. Smells of ripe raisins, toffee, caramel, and rich chocolate. Also hints of biscuity malts with a subtle red wine smell detected. It's almost sour, but because of the sweetness is nullified after breathing back out. A lot of different smells going on with this brew. Tastes of overly ripened cherry, bitter chocolate, ripened figs, dried dates. Overall very drinkable at 9 plus percent abv. I'll buy another bottle to share with friends since this is an awesome co-lab.

The deep burgundy colored body was not highly carbonated, and the one finger thick head was short lived. The smell was very wine like, with sour, fruity, woody aromas dominating the nose, and this was backed by a rose like floral aromas. The taste was that of raisins up front, with a followup of cherry. There were some hints of chocolate and toffee in the finish. The aftertaste was oak, vanilla, and a touch of banana. The body of the beer was a little thin and the feel slick. A nice creation, but a bit pricey for the quality. (538 characters)

Pours brilliant chestnut under a 3” pillowy lightly tan tinted foam cap that leaves clumpy lace. A spicy nose with a hint of anise, a touch of roast, faint vanilla and bourbon. It pours creamy and drier than the nose might suggest with dark kettle sugars, a hint of horehound, cola, and anise that culminate in a dry roasty bitter finish. Some astringency on the finish from the grain or maybe the hops is not altogether pleasant. Medium to medium high carbonation and medium full body. (488 characters)

Very overcarbonated, took 5-6 minutes for foam to dissipate. Smells of chlorophenols, highly carbonated on the tongue. There may be a little malt in the taste but it's mostly dominated by phenols. Definitely an infected bottle (228 characters)

A: Poured into a tulip to a deep brown with a monsterous three finger dense light tan head that retains well and leaves nice lacing. Pretty well carbonated as the cork came off with a satisfying pop but fortunately didn't gush.S: smells of barnyardy funk and acetic sourness, it's a little earthy with some slight band aid as well. It smells the part.T: taste is slightly roasty with some chocolate and funk with hints of sourness. nice underlying barnyardy flavor with some band aids and earthy flavor. There's some vanilla at times as well. swallow is more light roasted malt and a slight tartness with more funk and some lingering oaky flavorM: Fairly light on the palate with somewhat prickly carbonation and a very dry finish O: A very impressive beer. Great complexity and flavors with some nice funk and slight sour notes. This beer seems to have required some time as it seems like when SN does funk it takes a good while after bottling for it to come out. The sour is definitely subtle instead of being more up front so if you want some serious pucker this one isn't for you (1,123 characters)

Bought on a whim to see what multiple aging techniques in blended form tasted like. This is batch # 3, 13% Ale, 55% Wine barrel aged, 32% bourbon barrel aged and 9.8% alcohol content. Pours dark, almost black but has reddish hues when held up to light. Medium pour from a 750 into a a flute, resulted in a two inch light brown head that lasted several minutes while leaving little to no lacing on the glass. Aroma like a Belgian Dubbel with vanilla, fruit, and bourbon prevailing. Allowing beer to warm to around 55-60 brought out much more of the flavor profile and like many bourbon barrel aged beers, raised the presence of the bourbon barrel aging, yet the tartness of wine barrel aging still lingers but not a strongly as if drank colder. Medium mouthfeel with carbs and alcohol bite.

Overall my personal opinion is this is a good strong ale, not sure about the wild category but still quite palatable and enjoyable. Although I can understand the blending may be off-putting to some, thus this beer seems to have a higher than usual deviation on ratings. (1,067 characters)

Pours a dark brown, almost cola like color. Short dense tan head that settles into a light ring.

The aroma is of a brown bread malt. Some caramel and vanilla notes provide extra sweetness. Perhaps a hint of bourbon. The wine barrel and yeast add a tart edge to the aroma and a fruit grape note. Some sugary sweetness. Its interesting to say the least. Kind of works.

The taste is quite bizarre. The barrels seem to contrast and produce an odd herbal flavor. The flavor starts off bready, some toast. This quickly is over-taken by both barrels, at the same time. The bourbon fights with the wine barrel, which produces a vanilla tart grape. Not sure vanilla and grape should go together. The beer has a nice caramel backbone. The base beer is pretty nice, a bit of a Belgian thing going. Some clove, plum and licorice. I dunno a bit too much going on.

Moderate feel with fizzy carbonation. Clean on the palate, perhaps a touch sweet. The abv is well hidden. Drinks well.

Not sure the combination of barrels worked well with this beer. It contrasts too much and produces an odd flavor. (1,107 characters)

This is a review for batch 1, or whatever they called the batch that was released at SAVOR two years ago.

A: Murky brown body settled down to a two-finger, off-white head with big bubbles. Some foam has little bubbles, this one's got big bubbles. Pretty good lacing

S: Musty, muted cherries.

T: Fairly similar to an oud bruin. Starts off with surprisingly bright, tart cherries, along with some vinous notes. The middle becomes somewhat bitter, with mineral water and a bit of basement funk. Towards the end, I occasionally get a hint of chocolate or roast, which works well. Not much of an aftertaste.

F: Good balance of carbonation; body is light but also creamy, which is a combination I don't feel like I get too often.

O: I really can't remember what this beer tasted like fresh, and I haven't had it since a week or two after the SAVOR where they gave it out. It's a pretty good beer. Not overly complex, but enjoyable and drinkable. (948 characters)

Complex yet very clean and simple. Reminds me of the FFF/New Belgium Gratzer if it were barrel aged, but with a little more everything on it...especially the nose of a sour. I savored this beer as it slowly warmed up to discover nice depth on most of the character notes. Would love to see this happen again. (310 characters)

O: this is the third brewing of the beer, and not having had the previous two, I can tell you that there is nothing wild about this beer - it is more reminiscent of a rich Imperial-style brown meets a strong dark Belgian ale (though the stylings are more "American" than "Belgian"), but it truly transcends styles. If you're expecting a wild ale, you may be wildly disappointed, but if you're bracing for a barrel-aged brown, you'll be more pleased. I was absolutely stunned by the ale, and highly recommend it. The reviews aren't so hot, but this may be reflective of the two previous vintages - and also the difficulty in categorization. (1,208 characters)

Poured from a 750 ml bottle into a sampler. A fairly aggressive pour produces just a small, short-lived head that dissipates to a ring and some wispy lacing in the center. The beer is a somewhat hazy, deep amber brown with low carbonation.

Very very malty in the aroma and flavor. Tons of molasses, dark fruit, chocolate, vanilla, and spice. Also, a vinous character very much like a good port. Smooth creamy texture. It's pretty subtle as far as yeast characteristics- a moderate undertone of earthy funk and some pungent tartness mainly define it. The alcohol is well-hidden except for accentuating the spice and port notes.

A well-crafted brew and surprisingly smooth and clean for a "wild" ale. (707 characters)

4.0 Appearance: Dark chesnut with a 1 inch offwhite head. Dissipates quickly but retains some foam and leaves a big streak of lacing.

4.3 Smell: Clove belgian Dubbel aroma with some smoke. Brings back fond memories of my Belgian-only years. Some leathery, slightly sour aromas (not unpleasant). More bright and complex than the flavor.

I may sound ridiculous, but it actually smells like it was dry hopped with East Kent Goldings and fermented with brettanomyces. It's preposterous that the EKG ended up coming through, and maybe I'm imagining it, but I smell it and it works.

4.15 Taste: Well, I can tell the people behind Bourbon Barrel Quad had something to do with this! Lots of barrel presence, pretty straightforward otherwise; some tangy brett, slight brown sugar note, then a LOT of oak (smoothed out with some brett creaminess; don't get that in every brett beer, and always happy when I do).

Some reviews say this beer isn't very complex, and I think they're onto something... but that's not quite right in my opinion. The complexity is there (it straddles English and Belgian styles, it's outrageously--and welcomely--oak forward, and it has the esters and intriguing yeast flavors to satisfy any complexity lover), but it rarely manifests in one sip, and it doesn't really "sing together" if that makes sense.

To put it another way, I like, maybe even *love*, all these flavors, but only a few of them actually compliment each other. My brain keeps saying "slightly clove-y Belgian Dubbel with a bunch of whiskey barrel and some light creamy/tangy brett" because those all work. There's more here, but it's not really... doing anything. At least that's my experience of it.

A side note about "wild ale," the "light brett" isn't like "this is barely a wild ale!" light; if you've never tasted brettanomyces fermented beers, you'll be very confused and surprised by the flavor of Terra Incognita. It's light in that it has none of the brett dirt flavor, no crazy barnyard or basement flavors/aromas. Just a tang and creaminess that are emphatically brett. In other words, they either flash pasteurized it before it flourished beyond this point, or didn't use very much (?), or it hasn't had enough time to be all those crazy things brett can be. For me, it works awesome in the beer.

4.0 Mouthfeel: Good. Not thick, but full side of medium bodied. Creamy finish emboldened by alcohol heat. No dryness but no chalky / sugary b.s. either. Solid.

4.25 Overall: Puts me in mind of Marin Old Dipsea w/ Brett (barleywine), a fantastic beer that holds only good memories for me. It's not a brain destroying complexity fest like better Fantome beers or amazingly well thought out and executed barrel aged beers (see Goose Island, Firestone Walker, 50/50, and the still underrated barrel program of Clown Shoes). But it is delicious. Easily worth $15~20, and should satisfy all fans of barrel forward brett beers. (2,994 characters)

There's an impressively creamy, dark-khaki head on this brew that I can't help but stare at. It recedes slowly and leaves streaks of lace before settling into a frothy layer over a pitch black liquid with a few trickles of carbonation. 4.1

For lack of better words, there's a pungent, semi-wine grape like aroma with some malt sweetness that I associate with a dubbel maybe. It's an oaken dark fruit smell perhaps. There's faint sweet malt there but it's hardly detectable. 3.6

Flavor-wise, there's a cross of wine-like yeast flavors and bourbon barrel oak and vanilla flavors. There's also some of the dark fruit from the nose that works it's way in, date being what it most resembles. As the beer warms, baker's chocolate becomes more noticeable on the finish. 3.9

The yeastiness and wine-like quality to this beer can be a bit much. It's pretty light-feeling in the body and highly effervescent. 3.7

This beer takes on new dimensions as it warms and becomes much more enjoyable. The initial tastes and the mouthfeel aren't quite what I like in a beer so that drags this beer down a bit. 3.78 (1,163 characters)

Pours dark brown, almost black with red hues. Very murky muddy brown when held up to a light. A half finger of foam has died down to a thin ring pretty quickly, mild carbonation from the sides, think lacing 4/5

Taste is a bit of a curve ball. Lots of fig, raisin, chocolate, and molasses in the front. After that is a tart dark berry, followed by some oak- nice mix of mostly wine with strong hints of bourbon. Ends with a touch of alcohol 4.25/5

Feel is a moderate body, actually really smooth on the way down. Moderately tart, nothing close to sour. Alcohol is hidden well, it's really easy to drink 4.25

Overall it's different, but good. I know it's classified as a wild ale, but I still have no idea what sort of beer I just drank. More like a BA strong ale. It's really good though 4.25/5 (1,094 characters)

O I'm not a wild ale expert, but this is fairly good and very different. The funk hits first, followed by a BSDA presence and finishes way way whiskey. A commendable challenge to the ordinary palate and approachable. Not a super funk like GI Juliet, and probably pretty tame for the Wild Beer Advocate. I agree with previous post by THESEANLEWIS= that it could use more depth of flavor to support the barrel aspect. Enjoyable, once

Let me add that last 4 full reviews prior to mine are very well done.. I don't know how to like them, but they show a contemplative analysis of this beer. I didn't go any farther back than that prior to popping the cork. (859 characters)

A: After an explosive pop of the cork, this beer pours a deep cola brown with a few fingers of airy, bubbly, light brown head. Head faded into a thick and fuzzy collar that left tons of spotty lace down the glass.S: I get notes bubblegum, tropical, perfumey hops, mint, caramel, root beer, and faint hints if earthy rye, and spicy whiskey barrel.T: More grains and whiskey than the nose suggested, with flavors of toasted wheat, rye, earthy barrel, mild whiskey, caramel, and cola coming through. The finish is sweet and earthy, and the aftertaste is lightly bitter and has slight notes of chocolate.M: Fluffy carbonation, airy, soft mouthfeel, medium-full body, faint bitterness, and even fainter tartness.O: Flavorful and delicious, but until I went to enter this review I had no idea this was supposed to be a sour ale. There is a faint earthy tartness in the finish, but really I just thought this was an interesting barrel aged strong ale. Good, but I don't need to drink this again. (1,042 characters)

A-little to no light comes through in a snifter. Deep brown body with a cherry wood hued tan head.A-faint whiskey, balsamic, berry fruit, cherries, earthy in the finish.T-bright carbonation, followed by a sweet burnt caramel, whiskey flavor comes through clearly in the middle, with a sweet light bitterness.M- thin, effervescent, with a slight sweetness in the aftertaste, cleared out with a crisp clean bitterness.O-a crisp clean beer, present with fruit, whiskey and earthy notes one would expect. Could have used a little more body in the finish to support the darker flavors. (586 characters)

O: A lot to wrap your head around here. Sort of a rough and unpolished feel to it, and a lot going on between the Brett, hops, barrel, and coarse grain bill. It will be very interesting to see what the Brett does to this years down the road. (1,067 characters)

A: Dark brown, root beer look. Pretty flat brown in color, not a lot too it. Just a tad cloudy.S: Smells like Olives to me. Very sour.T: Initially quite sour on the pallete, the barrel age definitely comes through here. You get a little bit of a smoky chocolate flavor after that, but the sourness is what prevails throughout the drink. You also get a little bit of bittering hop taste at the end. M: Actually a fairly light mouthfeel for this dark of a beer. Definitely left with the sourness of the beer.O: I wish there was more to it.. The barrel aging profile really doesn't come through a lot, and overall it is quite sour, which I wasn't really looking for from this beer. (682 characters)

Overall I wanted more from this beer. It had some sour notes, but played more on the chocolate character, and the whiskey character. This was a foamy beer. I enjoyed this brew, but wanted more. It was good overall, and maybe aged longer. It would have been better. (264 characters)

This pours a dark brown color with a huge, foamy, light brown head. The aroma is very yeast as expected based on the pour. The taste is smooth, mellow, and just a touch of whiskey flavor that is no where near as bold as the bourbon barreled beers. This is an interesting yet simple brew that delivers an unique take on barrel aging. (332 characters)